Friday morning I awoke to the sound of my cell phone ringing far too early for the West Coast - my lovely wife was anxious to hear how my trip was going so far.  I was just about to express my displeasure at having been so rudely awakened at less than desirable hour when I looked over and saw the view outside the window of my room:

I stepped outside onto the balcony to take in one of the most beautiful morning landscapes I'd ever seen:

I ran down to the beach to get some more photos of the beauty which God provided that morning:.

I had a fantastic morning walk on the beach - if I would have had to pack up and leave at this point, the trip would have been well worth it.  I headed back to the room, grabbed a shower and enjoyed some room service for breakfast:  After about an hour of attending to email, I met back up with the Breitling group, and we headed out to Brown Airfield where the pilots competing in the air race take off from.  Fortunately, along with Red Bull and Breitling, Audi is an official partner in the air race World Series, so we were able to tool around in an S4 on Friday:

Our first stop at the air field was to visit the pilot Breitling sponsor's in the race, Nigel Lamb and to see his plane.

Nigel spent a great deal of time talking with us about his plane - it's a fairly new design compared to some the other competitors were using, but doesn't have a favorable power to weight ratio due to it being a two seat model.  Nigel hoped to place in 6th or perhaps even 5th place in this weekend's race.  Next year he'll be competing with a single seat version of the same plane, and hopes to be more competitive in the World Series as a result.  

In the photo above, Nigel can be seen wearing the Breitling Emergency watch.  Here's a shot of me with Nigel:

After the interview with Nigel Lamb, we headed to the other side of the air field - some classic planes which would be part of the entertainment on race day were out and on display:  

Up next on the schedule was my media ride in the Red Bull plane.  Here's a shot of of the friendly Red Bull representative who made me sign my life away in order to go up in the Red Bull plane. 

After a quick once-over by the Red Bull physician, I was determined to be fit for aerobatic flight, and I suited up in a parachute.  While I was suiting up, they brought the Red Bull plane out of the hangar: 

Here's a photo of me in the plane receiving my last minute pre-flight instructions:

I was fortunate enough to be provided a similar ride with Breitling pilot Dave Martin (one of the nicest guys in all of aviation) last year at the Reno Air Race. This flight, the conditions were considerably windier and it was a much rougher ride. Where last year I was comfortable doing barrel rolls, loop d' loops, and going inverted, this flight I was quite content to simply fly around the San Diego bay area, get a view of the race course, then return to the strip.  Once we got back I saw that Nigel's plane was being pre-flight prepped for him to make his qualifying runs for the day:

At this point, we left Brown Air Field, and headed to the Red Bull "High Flyers" VIP pavilion to watch the qualifying runs.  As we crossed the Coronado bridge we looked out into the San Diego bay and saw the huge, inflatable pylons which make up the course which the pilots must navigate.  Each pilot flies separately, and races against the clock.  The pilot who navigates the course in the shortest time wins the race.

Or this jumbo shrimp - I can't remember ever seeing bigger shrimp:

The girls also brought plenty of alchohol for those who drink (I don't) - mojitos seemed to be the popular drink of the day:

The qualifying rounds were quite exciting - the racers weren't charging the course as hard as they would on Saturday, but the course was less familiar so more mistakes were made. In this photo, the pilot comes too close to the pylon on the right, and his wing clips it:

The pylons appear to be made from a material similar to what parachutes are made, and they're also built in segmented sections which tear away from each other (like velcro) when struck.  Striking a pylon during the race is a penalty, but it's not a life threatening one - the pylon simply deflates:

Amazingly, once a pylon is deflated, it only takes about 3-5 minutes for the work crews to re-assemble it and re-inflate it.

After watching the exciting qualifying rounds of the Air Race, we headed back to the Del Coronado to change our clothes and head to the surprise party - we received VIP invitations to party Red Bull held on the famous aircraft carrier, the USS Midway (Midway opened as the San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum on 7 June 2004). 

How much does it cost to rent out an air craft carrier anyway?!?!

When we got up on the flight deck, we found all the party people - the joint was jumpin'!

Red Bull even provided live music and dancers!

Our Breitling group had a great time!

After a spectacular, fun-filled day, and fantastic evening, we headed back to the Del to catch a little sleep before Saturday - race day!

  Feel free to E-Mail me atmailto:John@rolexreferencepage.com?subject=Question about Oyster Bracelet Dive Suit Extension if you have any additional questions.

*All text and images contained in this web site are the original work of the author, John B. Holbrook, II and are copyright protected. Use of any of the information or images without the permission of the author is prohibited.

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